What Type of Background Information Is Needed for Act 153 - Assignment Example

Act 153 Guidelines (Name) (University) ACT 153 The Pennsylvania state legislature tried to strengthen children protection within the Children Protective Services Law (CPSL). The act went into effect on the 31st of Dec, 2014. And it is mandatory for the colleges and universities to obtain this particular Act. ACT 153 GUIDELINES What type of background information is needed for Act 153? The Pennsylvania state requires all his workers to meet the following requirements under the Act 153: i. A check of criminal records history- this is a check obtained from the Pennsylvania state police department containing all the criminal history or records about the employee as maintained in the police records. ii. The clearance check for an individual’s child abuse record- this is a record from the human services detailing if the employee is named in any pending case as an alleged perpetrator in an investigation of a case on child abuse iii. A check of criminal records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)- this is a check of the federal criminal records about the employees that is obtained when a worker submits his or her documented fingerprints to either police department of Pennsylvania or any other authorizing agency (Dickerson, 2007). Which individual is required to complete the clearance of Act 153? The clearance of Act 153 is generally required in the following circumstances: i. A department that has enrolled a high number of students in their schools or any faculty with a high number of students attending their courses. ii. Staff, the faculty, new employees and any volunteers in the working areas or programs with the children in school. iii. Admissions or any other individual who deals with the students during any program of recruiting students iv. Any summer groups renting the facilities of the Pennsylvania state with the students, need to provide an affidavit to the school concerned stating that their employees have been cleared. Which individuals are not required to complete clearance of Act 153? According to the review of the Act 15, the individuals named below are not required to complete any clearance as previously required by Act 153: i. Staff, newly hired employees or faculty with limited direct contact to the students. This limitation can be defined as the prospective students that are paying a visit to the school or any matriculated minors within the institution ii. The admission staff who are in contact with the prospective students while also carrying out recruiting activities to the students in the school iii. Any students or volunteers that are hosting the overnight visits that are sponsored by the school, and that the student or volunteers are registered or enrolled with the school such that the child is not in need of any child care services (Gerlach, 2005). iv. Any contractors or custodial employees that are working on the school. New changes on Act 153: i. In case the clearance are current, they can be transferred between employers provided the employer signs an affidavit indicating that the individual or the employer has never been convicted of any crime that disqualifies him or her from employment as stated by the Act 153. ii. The clearance is good for a period of five years rather than three years. Miscellaneous: I. the school should continue doing background checks on any new employees, this checks should include; the state and the national criminal checks, finance position checks, motor vehicle checks and the credit card checks. II. Incumbent workers that have pending clearance are not required to finish or clear the Act 153 process in case the worker’s position no longer needs clearance. However, in case the worker wants to continue with the Act 153 process, he or she can do so as these clearances are transferrable to other workers and they are good for five years. III. Any clearance received regarding volunteer services can never be used by any worker applying for employment in the school, but a clearance received for employment purposes can be regarded when one is applying for any volunteer position. What are the processes involved in completing the FBI fingerprinting and the criminal record check? An individual will need to have his or her fingerprints scanned. The school will need to provide the FBI fingerprinting process. A release form should be filled by the individual before the fingerprinting process. The information in this release form is needed to help in the completion of the PA state criminal report and registering that particular individual for fingerprinting. After filling the form, the individual is required to mail it to the Human Resource office. The school should register the individual and have his or her fingerprints scanned. The individual will also be required to bring his or her identification with them if they do want their fingerprints to be scanned. The school is required to receive the results of the fingerprinting process together with the criminal records within a period of 90 days, starting from the day that the fingerprinting was completed. The process of obtaining a child’s PA abuse clearance i. Any individual in need of the child abuse clearance, he will need to register at the Child Abuse Registry (CAR) site. When the Human Resource Office receives the completed release form, the individual will be emailed a detailed information instructing him how to complete the child abuse form. ii. The human resource will also email the individual a unique prepayment code after the completion of an online questionnaire. iii. After receiving the prepayment code, the individual will go to the Child welfare portal and follow the correct steps of obtaining the child’s PA abuse clearance. iv. The school will receive a copy of the results obtained from the individuals PA child abuse clearance. Why there is a need for individual to sign a disclosure before they begin working The new workers that are required to complete their clearance have a chance to be hired as provisional workers but they should not exceed 90 days to complete the clearance process provided the under listed requirements are met: i. The hired worker has not been involved in any criminal in a recognized report of any crime related to child abuse that has been reported within the past four years ii. The hired employee should never have any prosecution reports regarding any of the offenses found in the Section 18 within the Pennsylvania state agreement, or any other criminal activities related with the current law or any law of the United States of America and its related territories. iii. The chapter 25 which is against criminal homicide iv. The Section 2901 a rule against kidnapping v. The Section 3122.2 which is against any form of sexual assault that can be regarded as statutory vi. The Section 3121 which is against rape and all its related activities vii. The Section 2701.1 which is against any activities that can be considered as stalking viii. The Section 3125 which is against indecent assault as stated in a report from the Millersville University, (2015) Who should pay for these checks? The related school should take all responsibilities regarding on the fees required to carry out the background checks on their new employees. How frequently are these checks supposed to be carried? The new clearance should be done after each five years to the employees required have them. How much history the background screening will cover As stated earlier any criminal activities that is seen as breaking the law by the Childs protective law will be highly regarded during these assessments, the time or year of which the crime was not committed is not regarded (The Center for children’s Justice, 2014). All the school teachers, volunteers, independent contractors and the general staff members in the school will be required to complete the FBI, criminal and the child abuse clearance. In addition, the school should be able to evaluate the ways in which the senior students interact with the other minor students in the school-sponsored programs. A screening program for the senior students should also be considered. For the people with minimum interaction with the students For full legal compliance, all the employees that interact with the students within the school no matter how the contact is minimal should all complete the clearances (Pennsylvania State Education Association, 2015) For the non Pennsylvania residents At the time this report was written the Pennsylvania state only requires the residents of the state to obtain the clearance. All the non residents are not required to obtain the clearances from other states. Effects of these requirements on the international employees At this time, the PA law requires only the FBI clearance, PA child and the PA criminal. According to the Compliance Department, (2015) the PA does not require the international workers to obtain any form of clearance from other regions of the world. What if a criminal record is found for the current employee? It is not a mandatory for all the child abuse records for the workers are supposed to lead to the schools response. The child protective services law in PA should only concern with the obtained reports of any child abuse that have taken place within the past five years. If within the background screen, there is an occurrence of a child abuse report or any listed crimes, then the individual should be contacted and handed a copy of the report. The school should also give the employee a reasonable opportunity to explain the particular report (Millersville University, 2015). References Pennsylvania State Education Association, (2015): Background Check Requirements. Act 153 of 2014. Prepared by PSEA legal division. April 2015. Pgs 6-10 The Center for children’s Justice, (2014): Children’s Justice and Advocacy report. Act 153 of 2014, retrieved from www.C4CJ.org. Compliance Department (2015): PA Act 153. Impact on Health Care Employees and Volunteers. Posted on 6/11/2015. Retrieved from www.certiphi.com/resource-center/compliance-services/pa-act-153s-impact-on-healthcare-employees-and-volunteers/ Dickerson, D. (2007). Background checks in the university admissions process: An overview of legal and policy considerations. JC & UL, 34, 419. Gerlach, E. A. (2005). Background check balancing act: Protecting applicants with criminal convictions while encouraging criminal background checks in hiring.U. Pa. J. Lab. & Emp. L., 8, 981 Millersville University (2015). Act 153 of 2014 background clearances for managers and current student workers. Read More